Reasons to believe Vietnam will win

Up to now, in the number of encounters with the Indonesian team, we still lose more than we win, in 22 encounters we only won 5, drew 8 and lost 9. For more than a decade we have not won a single match when leaving Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. But now, things are going in a different direction.

The "fire pan" of the archipelago has cooled down

First of all, for security reasons, the match between Indonesia and Vietnam will take place at Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium with a capacity of 23,000 spectators instead of the "fire pan" Gelora Bung Karno Stadium with a capacity of 80,000 people.

In fact, under coach McMenemy, the Indonesian team is no longer supported by the enthusiastic fans as before. In the match against Malaysia, more than 54,000 fans still came to the stadium to cheer for coach Simon McMenemy's team. However, only about 11,000 fans appeared in the stands to support the Indonesian team when they met Thailand later.

Mr. Park will increase the number of wins to 30 in his 51st time leading the national team. Photo: VFF

"Consecutive defeats at home may make fans fed up with the Indonesian team. This will become an advantage for the Vietnamese team. They now do not have to worry about receiving an unfriendly welcome from the overzealous audience in Bali," Bola newspaper commented.

After 3 losses, experts said the biggest weakness of the home team was the organization of the match and the physical strength of the players. In all 3 matches, the Indonesian players showed that they were not a team that played with high discipline. Many players moved randomly, causing Mr. McMenemy to scream outside the field.

Many positions where the defense often showed a lack of concentration leading to conceding goals. Poor physical strength caused many Indonesian teams to not move actively in the second half and often conceded goals at this time.

The Indonesian defense lacked solidity, the central defenders rarely covered each other. Meanwhile, the full-backs often moved up, leaving many gaps for the opponent to exploit. This was Garuda's inherent weakness, while the Vietnamese team had quite a formidable wing attack thanks to names like Quang Hai, Van Toan, and Trong Hoang.

Both goalkeepers of the Indonesian national team, Andritany Ardhiyasa and Henry Hendrawan, are in poor form. Due to poor performance in the two matches lost to Malaysia and Thailand, Andritany lost his position to Hendrawan. But in the match against UAE, Hendrawan himself made many personal mistakes, leading to Indonesia's 0-5 defeat.

Insider

Coach McMenemy himself also commented: “The Vietnam team in the 2010s was quite easy to predict even though they played fast and short balls. But now Vietnam is a young, very strong team and has not conceded a goal after two matches. I think they have a lot of experience now. I feel like they are fearless, they are a top team.”

Indonesian players have techniques that are quite suitable for short-range football, but coach McMenemy advocates playing long balls. Photo: Bola

Indonesian players have techniques quite suitable for short-range football like Spain and Portugal, but coach McMenemy is heavily influenced by English football, characterized by long passes.

The fragile belief of the home fans of Indonesia is that coach Simon McMenemy is not a stranger to Vietnamese football. In 2010, this coach led the Philippines team to defeat Henrique Calisto and his team with a score of 2-0 right at My Dinh Stadium in the group stage of the 2010 AFF Cup.

After returning to Bali, coach Simon McMenemy called up the 1.88m Brazilian-born naturalized defender Otavio Dutra to strengthen the defense and participate in aerial battles to score goals. But will that be enough to save them from a home defeat?